


The Youngest General

by Burgie



Category: Starshine Legacy
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-09
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-08-20 12:36:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8249330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Katja appears in Pandoria after her banishment, terrified of her master's wrath.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger warnings for: blood, gore, torture, and suicidal thoughts.

Katja was absolutely terrified as she rematerialized. It had hurt, of course, being banished from Jorvik. From her ex, no less. Alex had no idea what she’d done. She’d even looked shocked when Katja had begun to glow with the banishing magic.

The ground trembled with the force of a distant roar, and Katja shivered along with it. Garnok was mad. She had been the last hope against the Soul Riders, with Mr Sands greatly weakened and Jessica still in another realm. Not here, though. Katja couldn’t feel anyone else here, except for the Other. That one was still locked up in her cage, prowling around in anger. Katja made a mental note to avoid her at all costs.

_**“You have failed.”** _

Katja gulped at the voice that she could more feel than hear. “I-I know.”

_**“You must be punished.”** _

“No!” Katja tried to back away, not that it would do any good. Running wouldn’t, either, but that didn’t stop her from bolting like a frightened horse. She ran and ran, her breath coming in sharp pants and her heart pounding in her throat. And then suddenly she was on the ground, her head slamming into the unforgiving, rocky ground. She gave a sharp bark of pain and instinctively put a hand to her head, feeling the warm stickiness of blood and something… sharp and gritty. She would not look at her hand.

_**“Foolish girl. Running in heels only leads to trouble. Your sisters know this, but you do not. You are too vain. Too human. I should destroy you, or remake you.”** _

“No,” Katja repeated, shaking her head. The world spun around her but she tried to get to her feet anyway. “No, you can’t get rid of me, you need me.” She leaned against a rocky cliff, and discovered that she couldn’t feel it. At least that meant that she couldn’t feel the pain anymore.

_**“I can make more. There are plenty of humans who would make a deal with the ‘devil’ in order to gain immortality, strength, and power beyond their wildest imaginings.”** _

“But they don’t know the enemy like I do,” said Katja. She didn’t know why she was begging to stay. She was sick of this endless cycle of fights and banishments and regenerations. Sick of trying to fight the girl that she’d grown so close to.

_**“Maybe not, but they can learn. They will not love the enemy like you do, either.”** _

He knew. Of course he knew, Katja didn’t know why she was surprised. Garnok knew all, so of course he’d know the way she truly felt. She trembled and fell to her knees, sliding down the rock. Blood was still running down her face, matting her hair to her cheek. She was damaged, she should… should change. As she slipped into darkness, Katja was dimly aware of her body changing.

A sudden pain brought her back before she could claim oblivion, and Katja screamed. She looked around, rolling onto her side a little, and the pain from her tail moving nearly made her black out again. But she saw the face above her, the bloodied sword that she knew so well. It made sense, she guessed, that her master would use her weakness against her to train it out of her. Katja watched Alex’s uncaring face, not seeing the sword until she felt the pain of it scraping the wrong way along her scales. She screamed as the sword made one slow stroke, like a lover’s caress only wrong. And she went under again, escaping into sleep.

When Katja awoke, the pain that hit her was so intense that she vomited. She couldn’t look at the bloodied mess that was her tail. Every inch of it was raw, scraped raw. Now she had to change back, become human again. So she could run, so she could… could heal. The pain of that shift was worse than anything else she’d ever experienced. Worse, even, than the pain of peeling herself off the stones that her blood had stuck her to. But she ran again, as fast as her weakened state would allow. She had years of this ahead of her. A century, at least, until the next cycle began. Years of attacks, being lulled into a false sense of safety, ambushes by Shadow Seekers, the ground falling away from under her or tripping her up, and running. So much running, and painfully-slow healing. Until, finally, Garnok would leave her alone so that she could serve him, too frightened to disobey.

She just wanted it to end.


End file.
